Some Observations 

on 

Political Parties in Virginia 



''That peace and happiness, truth and 
justice, religion and piety, may be 
established among us for all genera- 
tionsT 



HUNSDON CARY 

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Some Observations on Political 
Parties in Virginia 



Some Observations on Political 
Parties in Virginia 


Preface 


D uring the recent political campaign in Virginia which 
terminated in the election of November 8, 1921, an at¬ 
tempt was made to draw a parallel between the present 
times and the times of Henry Clay, and Democratj^ were asked 
to imitate Clay’s example by forsaking their political allegiance 
for a season and voting for an opposition candidate, in this in¬ 
stance Col. Henry W. Anderson, the Republican candidate for 
Governor. They were told that “we are again faced with prob¬ 
lems such as induced our grandfathers to espouse the Whig 
party,” that they should “remember what was their political 
faith,” that “they were not afraid for a season no longer 
to be called Democrats,” and that Col. Anderson is “the new 
Whig who has arisen in Virginia.” This appeal came from a 
source of such ripe scholarship and commanding ability that it is 
deserving of the attention of thoughtful men of all parties, for 
although Col. Anderson was defeated by a majority of 74,365, 
the largest majority ever given a Democratic candidate for Gov¬ 
ernor, it nevertheless opens up a question of historical impor¬ 
tance that will necessarily recur in succeeding elections, and, 
when considered in the light of President Harding’s recent Bir¬ 
mingham speech, raises issues that are of transcendant importance 
to Virginia and other southern states, if not to the nation at 
large. 


I. whig Party 

I N ORDER to see if the actions of our grandfathers during 
the days of the Whigs are a guide for our actions in this 
generation, let us approach the question in the light of history. 

In the presidential election of 1828 the Democrats elected 
their candidate, Andrew Jackson. In 1832 he was re-elected 
and carried every county in Virginia by safe majorities, except 
seven. In the election of 1836 the Democrats were again suc¬ 
cessful, and elected Van Buren. Impressed by their defeat in 
1836, the Southern Whigs turned more and more to Henry Clay 
as their leader in the presidential election of 1840. During this 
period (1828-1840) the principal issues were nullification, the 
United States Bank, the tariff, and internal improvements, ques¬ 
tions on which honest men could hold honest differences of 
opinion. But during the years preceding the election of 1840 
disaffection set in among politicians who were disappointed in 
the political patronage dispensed by Jackson and Van Buren, and 
a concerted attempt was made to defeat the Democratic nominee 
for the presidency in 1840. Chief among the adherents in this 
movement were John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, and Henry 
Clay, of Virginia, who joined the Whig party. This party has 
been characterized by Dr. Arthur Charles Cole in his valuable 
treatise, “The Whig Party In The South,” as “a party hospitable 
to every faction that was willing to join the cause” In this elec¬ 
tion the Whigs did not even adopt a platform, but carried on 
a hullabaloo campaign, and Harrison, their candidate, was 
elected. But what did Virginians do in this election under what 
is termed “the spell of the passionate eloquence and reasoned 
persuasion of Henry Clay”? Did they “forget their political 
faith”? No, Virginia then refused to be misled, and gave a 
democratic majority. 

In the state elections during the same period the issues were 
much the same, sentiment was quite evenly divided, and first one 
party and then the other prevailed. Thus, in 1835, the Demo¬ 
crats carried the state; in 1838 the Whigs carried the election; 


4 




in 1841 the Democrats carried the General Assembly; in 1844 the 
Whigs won a majority in the House of Delegates; in 1845 
Democrats wiped out the Whig majority in the House of Dele¬ 
gates ; in 1847 the vote in the General Assembly was a tie on 
joint ballot. But the successful termination of the war with 
Mexico and the agitation over the extension of slave territory, 
which followed, drove most of the Whig leaders into closer 
affiliation with the Democratic party, enabling it to recover and 
retain control until the war between the states. 

It is thus seen that the argument adduced is a syllogism of 
which the major premise is an historical error, and the conclu¬ 
sions therefore inept. 

But it was further said, as a reason for soliciting demo¬ 
cratic votes for Col. Anderson, that “we are again faced with 
problems such as induced our grandfathers to espouse the Whig 
party.’’ As we have already shown, our grandfathers did not 
espouse the Whig party. But are we again faced with problems 
such as confronted our grandfathers? An answer to this ques¬ 
tion is found in the political history of Virginia during the last 
sixty years. And first let us turn to the history of the Republi¬ 
can party during this period. 


II. Republican Party 

A S PREFATORY to what shall follow, it is proper to state 
that what may here be set down is not written in anger 
or malice, or in a desire to stir up bitterness, but is an 
attempt to state with unimpassioned deliberation the facts as they 
exist, and to see if the Republican party is yet to be trusted with 
the government of Virginia. 

The Wheeling Government. 

Extending over a period of years prior to 1861, various 
causes had conspired to make the trans-Alleghany counties of 
Virginia less southern in their sentiment than the rest of the 


5 




State, and when on April 17, 1861, the ordinance of Secession was 
passed by the Convention assembled at Richmond, delegates from 
most of these counties returned home and began a campaign 
against secession. Two Conventions met at Wheeling, with the 
result that the second of them, the Convention of June ii, 1861, 
representing only 39 counties out of a total of 140 counties and 3 
cities, and 282,000 out of the 1,600,000 inhabitants of the State, 
declared vacant the offices of all officers who adhered to the 
Richmond government, and in disregard of the Constitution of 
the State proceeded to fill offices, and elected Francis H. Pier- 
pont as Governor. It declared the members of the General 
Assembly chosen at the regular spring elections, who were of 
course to sit in Richmond, and those elected to take the place of 
the members who would not take the oath to support the gov¬ 
ernment it had set up, to be the lawful Legislature of the State. 
This Legislature elected two United States Senators, who were 
given their seats in the Senate. 


Formation of West Virginia. 

The next step of the Wheeling convention was taken on 
August 20, 1861, and is of momentous interest. On that date 
it passed an ordinance providing for the formation of a new 
state out of the territory then represented at the convention and 
the subsequent admission of certain other counties to the State 
if they should elect to come in. 

Article IV, Section 3, of the Federal Constitution provides 
that 'ffio new State shall be formed or erected within the Juris¬ 
diction of any other State.” When Attorney-General Bates, Pres¬ 
ident Lincoln’s legal adviser, heard of this proposed action, he 
wrote as follows: 

“The formation of a new state out of Western Vir¬ 
ginia is an original, independent act of revolution. . . . 

Any attempt to carry it out involves a plain breach of both 
the constitutions of Virginia and of the nation.” 


6 




Notwithstanding this protest from the nation’s chief law 
officer, the State of West Virginia was carved out of the territory 
of Virginia. To this act the Legislature sitting at Wheeling, 
called the ^'Virginia” Legislature, gave its consent, and on June 
20, 1863, West Virginia was admitted into the Union as a 
sovereign state by Act of Congress. Thus we see a Convention 
of a part of Virginia adopting a Constitution for West Vir¬ 
ginia, and a Legislature giving away territory for Virginia and 
accepting it on the part of West Virginia. In this wise was the 
State of West Virginia created by a Republican government. 

The Alexandria Government. 

An anomalous situation now occurred. The “Virginia” gov¬ 
ernment sitting at Wheeling had given away all its territory, 
and was now sitting in a foreign state. But Governor Pierpont 
had been elected Governor of “Virginia” by the Wheeling Con¬ 
vention, his government had been recognized by the Washington 
administration, and he wanted somewhere to go. His seat of 
government was therefore removed to Alexandria, and there, 
under the protection of the federal armies, it remained until 1865. 
His Legislature at Alexandria represented the minority in five 
counties, and the aggregate number of both houses of his As¬ 
sembly never exceeded sixteen. 

The ^Restored Government.^' 

After the fall of the Confederacy, Pierpont found himself 
Governor of Virginia in fact as well as name, for on May 9, 
1865, he was recognized as such by President Johnson, and there¬ 
upon by the people of the State. It was known as the “Restored 
Government.” 

In 1865 this “Restored Government” gave the people of 
Virginia a government of their own, but it was not to last long. 
On December 4, 1865, the day its Legislature met, Virginia’s rep¬ 
resentatives elected to Congress were refused admission. Imme¬ 
diately the extremists in the Republican party began to proclaim 
negro suffrage and the confiscation of “rebel” property. 


7 




Reconstruction and the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. 

On March 2 and March 23, 1867, the Reconstruction Acts 
of Congress were passed, under which a Republican Congress 
refused to admit the Southern States into the Union except upon 
the terms and under the conditions prescribed by Congress. And 
now began the political war made upon the Southern States, 
which was more heartrending in its results than armed conflict. 
It will be borne in mind, however, that the contention of the 
North was that the war was waged to preserve the Union, that 
no state had a right to leave it. Yet now it was declared that 
these states were out of the Union. 

In the meantime, however, the 13th Amendment had been 
adopted. To pass this amendment the votes of 27 states were 
required, and in order to secure this required number, the vote 
of West Virginia, illegally created as above set out, and the vote 
of Virginia, represented by the Pierpont government sitting at 
Alexandria and representing 5 counties, were both counted. In¬ 
cluding these votes of West Virginia' and Virginia, exactly 27 
states voted for the Amendment. So that although the govern¬ 
ment of Virginia could be recognized when its vote was necessary 
to pass the 13th Amendment, it could not be recognized when 
such action would admit Democratic members to Congress. 

When the 14th Amendment was proposed, it was rejected 
by 13 states, including 10 southern states, because of the fact 
that it disfranchised all men who had previously served in Con¬ 
gress or in any capacity as members of a State government, 
thereby disqualifying a large percentage of the leading men in 
the southern states. The rejection of this Amendment greatly 
incensed Republicans, and hastened the passage by them of the 
Reconstruction Acts of 1867. 

These Reconstruction Acts of March 2 and March 23, 1867, 
were in the teeth of all of Mr. Lincoln’s expressed intentions, he 
having determined to allow the seceding states to take their 
places in the Union upon the return of peace under their own 
governments. But now he was dead, an attempt was being made 


8 




to impeach President Johnson for attempting to carry out his 
policies, and the radical Republicans were in power. Led by 
Thaddeus Stevens, they proceeded on their way of vengeance. 

These Reconstruction Acts were intended to punish the 
seceding states, and to intrench the Republican party in power. 
They annulled the state governments then in operation; enfran¬ 
chised the negro; disfranchised all who had participated in the 
war against the Union, if they had previously held any state or 
federal office; provided for the calling of conventions and the 
framing and adopting of state constitutions; and the election of 
state officers. The eleven southern states were divided into 5 
military districts, each under a commanding officer, and Virginia 
became Military District No. i. The constructors builded better 
than they knew. By the close of June, 1868, eight of the eleven 
southern states were represented in Congress. Of these repre¬ 
sentatives all but two were Republicans, and of the 16 senators 
there was not a single Democrat, and the negroes and small white 
republican element controlled the elections. 

The southern states, including Virginia, had, as above stated, 
already rejected the 14th Amendment when submitted to their 
self-chosen governments, and the necessary number of votes to 
secure its adoption were not obtained. The state governments 
newly created by Congress, however, and which had been en¬ 
dowed with negro suffrage, had the 14th Amendment resubmitted 
to them, and as thus created adopted the Amendment. 

But the newly acquired southern allies of the Republican 
party might be lost at any time, for negro suffrage, which had 
been created by Congress^ might be repealed and taken away at 
any time, and without the negro vote the Republican party in the 
South was impotent. To buttress itself against any such con¬ 
tingency, it decided to make negro suffrage secure by a Con¬ 
stitutional Amendment, and thereupon the 15th Amendment was 
proposed, providing that the right to vote “shall not be denied 
or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of 
race, color, or previous condition of servitude.’’ The number 
of votes necessary to pass the amendment was 27, and exactly 


9 




this number of states voted for it, counting the vote of West 
Virginia, created by the methods above outlined, and the votes 
of the lo newly created southern states now under negro domi¬ 
nation. Thus was negro suffrage fixed upon the southern states. 

Registration under the Reconstruction Acts took place in 
Virginia in the summer of 1867. The total number of regis¬ 
trants was 225,933, of which number 120,101 were white, and 
105,843 or 47% were colored. In half the counties the colored 
voters formed a majority, but upon the basis of representation 
they had a big advantage. There were 90,555 registrants in the 
white section of the state, and 125,895 in the black section of the 
south and east, and by a strict apportionment of the represen¬ 
tation used (one representative to 2,061 voters), there would 
have been 44 representatives from the white counties and 61 
from the negro counties, in spite of the fact that in the state as 
a whole the whites had a majority of 14,269. 

When the negroes were enfranchised in the spring of 1867, 
the Republican party was already in the field (and the only 
political party in Virginia), and it had the aid of two highly 
developed organizations to bring the negroes into line. These 
were the Freedmen’s Bureau and the Union League. Under the 
Freedmen’s Bureau, created by Congress, the state was divided 
into eight districts, each under an Assistant Quartermaster, and 
these in turn divided into sub-districts under the command of 
military officers. This organization cared for the newly freed 
slaves, and impressed upon their minds the debt they owed the 
Republican party. But the Union League was even more power¬ 
ful, for its secrecy and the mysterious solemnity of its ritual 
made a strong appeal to the negroes. They were taught in the 
ritual that the Republicans were their only friends and their 
former masters their enemies. 

During the period that Virginia had been under military 
rule, she had enjoyed comparative quiet, except for the enor¬ 
mous number of unemployed, consisting of the newly freed 
slaves that would not work and infested the cities and towns. 
But now, with freedom and the ballot, and under the tutelage 


10 




of the Freedmen’s Bureau, the Union League, and the white 
carpetbaggers and scalawags who followed in the wake of the 
federal armies, the negro was lashed into a political zealot, and 
riots and restlessness broke out all over the state in the spring and 
summer of 1867; negroes were empaneled on grand juries, before 
one of which such juries (there were 6 negroes on it), Jefferson 
Davis was summoned to appear after two years imprisonment 
at Fortress Monroe. As an instance of what the negroes were 
fed on, the following is an extract from the diatribe of the 
scalawag Hunnicutt delivered in Richmond August i, 1867, be¬ 
fore the Republican Convention assembled in the African church: 

“Now, we tell the strangers that if they want to 
come with us they will have to swallow a bitter pill. They 
must swallow the Constitutional Amendment, the Civil 
Rights Bill, the Sherman-Shellabarger-Wilson Bill, the Sup¬ 
plementary Bills, every Reconstruction Act, the Iron-clad 
Oath, the 17th of April platform, Wardwell, Hunnicutt, and 
the nigger; yes, the nigger—his head, his feet, his hide, his 
hair, his tallow, his bones, and his suet! Nay, his body 
and soul I Yes, all these they must swallow, and then, per¬ 
haps, they can be called Republicans.^' 

And Hunnicutt, the Republican leader in the state, made 
good his requirements. From that time the negroes became more 
independent of their white leaders, and more extreme in their 
radicalism. In some places they refused to admit whites into 
the Union League and formed armed organizations. The dis¬ 
graceful scenes that accompanied the session of this Republican 
Convention mark the turning point of the negro in politics. From 
that day the color line was sharply drawn, and the contest be¬ 
tween the whites and blacks was on. 

Convention of 186/-1868, or ^Underwood Convention/' 

Under the Reconstruction Acts Virginia had to adopt a con¬ 
stitution satisfactory to Congress before it would be admitted as a 
state into the Union. Many of her leading citizens were dis- 


II 




franchised under the “test oath” requirement of Congress, and 
could not vote. At this election only 14,835 white votes were 
cast in favor of holding a convention, whereas of the 92,507 
black votes cast, all but 638 were in favor of it. And of the 
members elected to this Convention to frame a constitution for 
1/ the remnant of the old Commonwealth, about one-fourth were 
her newly liberated negro slaves. It is thus seen how the negro 
vote was controlled by the radical Republicans, and how it was 
used to control the government of the state. As a result, race 
conditions became more unsatisfactory, and a pall of gloom 
hung over her white citizens. 


Formation of Conservative Party. 

Prior to December, 1867, the Republican party was the 
only organized political party in the state since the war between 
the states, but in order to combat the negro domination being 
foisted upon the white people of the state, the Conservative 
! party was formed, whose destiny it was to finally wrest the gov- 
I ernment of the state from the carpetbaggers and their negro allies, 
as hereinafter pointed out, and restore it to its white citizens. 

This party was organized by the leaders of the old Whig 
and Democratic parties, who issued a call for a convention to 
meet in Richmond December ii, 1867. In response to this call 
J/'eight hundred of Virginia’s finest type of citizens were present 
as delegates. In his inaugural address, Hon. Alexander H. H. 
Stuart, the President of the Convention, said: 

“We have met to appeal to the North not to inflict 
this disgrace upon us. Our rights may be wrested from 
us, but we will never submit to the rule of an alien and 
inferior race. We prefer the rule of the bayonet.” 

In accordance with the rule of the Commanding General of 
the District, the Constitutional Convention met in Richmond on 
December 3, 1867. It contained 65 radical Republicans, 35 Con¬ 
servatives, and the remaining 5 were doubtful. The Republicans 


12 





were composed of 25 negroes, 14 native born white Virginians, 
13 New Yorkers, i Pennsylvanian, i member from Ohio, i from 
Maine, i from Vermont, i from Connecticut, i from South 
Carolina, i from Maryland, i from the District of Columbia, 2 
Englishmen, i Irishman, i Scotchman, i Canadian, i from Nova 
Scotia. The President of the Convention was John C. Under¬ 
wood, of New York, and hence the Convention is known in 
history as the “Underwood Convention.” 

This Convention adopted an article disqualifying from hold- 
ing office and from jury service nearly every white man in the 
state, and disfranchised several thousand of our most capable 
white men. On the day the Convention adjourned General Scho¬ 
field, in charge of the District, appeared in person before the 
Convention and protested against this provision of the Constitu¬ 
tion, but his protest was disregarded, and he was bitterly at¬ 
tacked for his remarks. The next day (April 18, 1868), he 
wrote to General Grant advising him not to submit the Con¬ 
stitution to the people of the state at all, to let it “fall and die 
where it is.” 


The Committee of Nine. 

The Convention ordered an election to be held on June 2, 
1868, to submit the Constitution to the people of the state, and 
to elect officers under it. But General Schofield issued an order 
on April 24, 1868, to the effect that he had no authority to order 
the election, as Congress had made no provision to defray its 
expenses. He also advised Congress to have the disfranchising 
and test oath clauses voted on separately. 

Appeals were made to Congress by the Republicans to make 
the necessary appropriation, and on December 8, 1868, the Re¬ 
publican House of Representatives passed the bill approving the 
Underwood Constitution. Fortunately for Virginia, the Jlouse 
of Representatives recessed shortly after the passage of the Act, 
and time was gained to attempt to rid the Constituion of its 
objectionable features—the test oath, disfranchisement, and county 
organization clauses. 


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To meet this situation the Conservative party organized a 
committee of nine eminent men chosen from all parts of the state 
to go to Washington and acquaint Congress with the true situ¬ 
ation in Virginia and save the state from impending evils. The 
organizer and leader of this committee was Alexander H. H. 
Stuart, who had served as a member of each branch of the 
General Assembly, as a representative in Congress, as presiden¬ 
tial elector, and as Secretary of the Interior under President 
Fillmore. Before the war he had been a Whig and a strong 
Union man. The pleas of this Committee were in part success¬ 
ful, as Congress ordered the test oath and disfranchisement clauses 
to be voted on separately, but refused to allow the county organi¬ 
zation clause to be so voted on, as a result of which many coun¬ 
ties in the black belt were subsequently under negro domination 
for several years. The date of the election was set for July 6, 
1869. 

After a bitter campaign the Conservatives won the election, 
defeating the test oath and disfranchisement clauses of the Con¬ 
stitution, and also the Republican candidates for Governor and 
Lieutenant Governor, the latter a negro. This Constitution en- 
U franchised 150,000 densely ignorant negroes, and there were 29 
^ negroes in the first General Assembly elected under it. This 
Assembly, the first that had convened in Virginia in three years, 
met October 5, 1869, and on January 26, 1870, Virginia resumed 
her place in the Union under the control of native white Con¬ 
servatives. But the Republicans retained their hold in the black 
counties of the state and were a constant menace to Virginians 
political welfare. 

The State Debt. 

One of the first questions to receive the attention of Vir¬ 
ginia’s Legislature was her debt. Her people were impoverished, 
one-third of her territory had been lopped off and created into 
a new state, and her debt amounted to $45,000,000, a large part 
of which had been expended prior to i860 for internal improve¬ 
ments in what was now the State of West Virginia. The con¬ 
sideration of this question is intimately bound up in the history 


14 





of the state for the next generation, and it was not finally settled 
until July 22, 1920, when the Supreme Court of the United States 
entered its final decree in the suit of Virginia v. West Virginia. 

But even in her dire distress it did not occur to Virginia to 
repudiate her debt. To meet the situation the Funding Act was 
passed in March, 1871. Under this act it was provided that new 
bonds bearing 6% interest should be issued and exchanged for 
her old bonds to the extent o£ two-thirds thereof, and that for 
the remaining one-third of her old bonds interest bearing certifi¬ 
cates should be issued, upon which certificates payment was to 
be made in accordance with such settlement as might be made 
with West Virginia. 

It was soon found out, however, that Virginia could not pay 
the interest on her debt and the other appropriations provided 
by law. A deficit occurred in the state’s revenue, and her public 
schools suflfered greatly. Out of this situation grew the Read¬ 
juster movement. 


Readjuster Party, i8/p-i88s. 

Dissatisfaction and uneasiness sprang up on account of this 
financial situation, and in 1873 state campaign was waged 
with bitterness, the Republicans, under the lead of carpetbaggers, 
striving to regain control of politics, and the white Conservatives 
opposing them. The Nation said it was “barely an exaggeration 
to say that it was a struggle of races.” Again the Conservatives 
were successful, and the number of negroes in the General As¬ 
sembly was reduced to 19. 

From 1873 to 1879, however, the Conservatives were con¬ 
tinuously successful, until in the latter year the Republicans had 
been reduced to a negro organization, and the race question had 
become of little moment. But now they were to be again massed 
under white leaders, and thrown against the whites. 

At this time not only were the public finances in a deplor¬ 
able condition, and the funds for public schools pitifully insuf¬ 
ficient, but there were 2,000,000 less acres in cultivation in 1870 


15 




than in i860, and the production of tobacco and corn had been 
reduced to about half. British financiers were unwilling to lend 
money in the state, and were advising others not to do so. 

Unable to pay 6% interest on her huge debt, Virginia ar¬ 
ranged with her bondholders to accept new bonds at a lower rate 
of interest, and Virginia was released from West Virginia’s 
one-third of her debt; and to carry out this arrangement an act 
was passed by the Legislature which was known as the McCulloch 
Bill, and became a law on March 28, 1879. 

At this point Wm. G. Mahone appears upon the stage. He 
had been narrowly defeated for the Democratic nomination for 
Governor in 1877, now, under the stress of the times, he 
seized upon the idea of “readjustment”, or partial repudiation 
of the state debt, to bring himself into power. Says Mr. Richard 
L. Morton in his valuable work on the negro in Virginia Politics: 

“The general feeling of discontent, the looseness in 
party lines, the bad economic condition of the State, and the 
certainty of gaining the negro votes if he opposed the Con¬ 
servative whites, made the time propitious for his plot.” 

In February, 1879, Mahone called a convention which met 
in Richmond. It adopted a platform attacking the Funding Act, 
the McCulloch Bill, disclaimed all liability for West Virginia’s 
one-third of the debt, proclaimed that the interest on her debt 
must be lowered until it came within the state’s revenues under 
the existing rate of taxation, and adopted other provisions cal¬ 
culated to enlist the support of the discontented. 

Some of the whites who joined the Readjusters were sin¬ 
cere in their belief that they offered a panacea for Virginia’s 
burdens, but the vast majority of her white men refused the 
temptation of repudiation. The Readjusters made the negroes 
believe, however, that the whites wanted to increase their bur¬ 
dens, and they flocked to their standards en masse. They won 
the General Assembly in 1879, negroes being elected, and 
again the race question was on. 


16 





They passed the Riddleberger bill, reducing the state debt 
according to their plans, but Governor Holliday vetoed it, and 
they then proceeded to fill the offices with their men, in order 
to secure the election of a Readjuster Governor in i88i. It fell 
to the lot of the Legislature of 1879 to elect county judges in 
the one hundred counties in Virginia, and to make room for 
their selections. Supreme Court judges and three-fourths of the 
County and Corporation Court judges of the state were removed. 
There were few reputable lawyers in the Readjuster party, and 
many men were appointed who were incompetent, and some were 
the cause of much scandal. 

In 1879 the Readjuster party allied itself to the Republican 
party by promising Virginia to the Republicans in the presiden¬ 
tial campaign of the next year. 

In 1881 the Readjusters won the election, electing Wm. E. 
Cameron Governor, and controlling both houses of the General 
Assembly. They at once proceeded to carry out their plans for 
settling the state debt, and being no longer hampered by the 
Governor's veto, passed the Riddleberger Bill, under which the 
state debt was adjusted, and other financial legislation passed. 
Under the Riddleberger Bill the principal of the state debt was 
placed at $21,035,377.15, and was to bear interest at 3%. 

The financial legislation for which the Readjuster party 
was organized being accomplished, it was forsaken by the better 
element of its white adherents, and its issues degenerated into 
Mahoneism. Once more the national Republican party became 
identified with what was most disreputable in Virginia politics. 

In 1882 Mahone was again victorious, and Readjusters were 
chosen from five of the nine Congressional districts. But on 
July 25, 1883, the Conservatives met in Convention in Lynchburg 
under the name of “Democrats," accepted the settlement of the 
debt controversy as final, and resolved to drive Mahone and 
his negro allies out of the political life of Virginia. But the 
offices were all filled with Mahone’s men, the payment of the 
poll tax as a franchise requisite had been repealed., the party 
was well organized, and the negroes followed Mahone’s men with 

17 




child-like submission in solid ranks. The task was a difficult 
one. The race question became a dominant issue, the negroes 
were taught the whites wished to bring them into bondage again. 
Conditions similar to those of reconstruction days prevailed, 
relations between the races became tense, and a street riot 
broke out in Danville, due to the fact that in the city govern- 
]/ment negroes had a majority in the council, were on the police 
force, filled other offices, and occupied twenty of the twenty-four 
stalls in the market. 

In 1883 the Democrats won a complete victory, undid mis¬ 
chievous legislation of Mahoneism, appointed officials of superior 
character, and the state was again reclaimed from negro domi¬ 
nation. 

In 1884 Mahone’s party in Convention instructed for the 
Republican nominee for President (Blaine), but the Democrats 
carried the state for Cleveland. 

The state campaign of 1885 was bitter. General Fitzhugh 
Lee was the Democratic nominee for Governor, and John S. Wise 
was nominated by the Republicans. The Democrats were suc¬ 
cessful, and now resolved to drive the negro from politics by any 
means short of violence. 


Race Friction, 188^-ipoo. 

The ensuing fifteen years after the election of 1885 was 
marked by race friction and the use of loose political methods 
to defeat the negro. 

The success of the Republicans in the national election in 
1888, when they secured the Presidency and a majority in both 
houses of Congress for the first time since 1876, encouraged the 
Virginia Republicans. The race question was further heightened 
by the fact that Edward C. Venable, the Democratic candidate 
for Congress from the 4th District, who had been declared 
elected, was unseated by this Republican Congress and a mulatto, 
John W. Langston, seated in his place. 


18 




^^Force BiW\ 


In 1890, the Republican party being in full control of the 
Presidency and both houses of Congress, a bill was introduced in 
the House of Representatives by a Republican member from 
Massachusetts, which was known as the “Force Bill/* The 
author of this bill (Henry Cabot Lodge) is now in the U. S. 
Senate, and is one of the leaders of his party. Its design was 
to place Federal elections in the southern states under the con¬ 
trol of Federal troops, and thereby insure the retention of the 
Republican party in power, it having been seriously threatened 
by the now solid Democratic South. This bill, which had been 
recommended to Congress by President Harrison in his first 
message in 1889, passed the House of Representatives, but died 
in the Senate. Its effect was to solidify the Democratic South 
still further. 

From 1890 to 1900 the Democratic party remained in power. 
In 1891 there were no negroes in the State Senate for the first 
time since 1867. The fear of the negro in politics was ever 
present, however, and though the Walton election law was passed 
in 1894, in the effort to cleanse politics, the best element was 
unsatisfied with conditions. The methods adopted by Mahone 
to put himself in power had been adopted by his opponents to 
defeat him, and men’s consciences became more or less accus¬ 
tomed to these methods. On December 4, 1895, the Governor in 
his message called attention to the existing conditions in elec¬ 
tions. And the chief object of that splendid citizen and patriot, 
the late Joseph Bryan, in founding the Richmond Times, was to 
obtain a mouthpiece with which to right these conditions. As a 
result of the desire for cleaner political conditions, and to remove 
the negro as an inducement to fraud, the Constitutional Conven¬ 
tion of 1901 was brought into being. 


19 




III. Democratic Party 


T he history of the Republican and Democratic parties 
was so interwoven prior to the Constitutional Convention 
of 1901 that it was impossible to write a narrative of the 
one without the other. It was therefore shown in the discussion 
of the Republican party how the state was rescued from negro- 
Republican rule by the Democrats after reconstruction times, and 
how it was again wrested from a similar crew under Mahone in 
1889. We come now to the period of uninterrupted Democratic 
administration. 


Constitutional Convention, ipoi-ip02. 

The Constitution of 1868 provided that no election to revise 
said Constitution be taken until after the general election in 1888. 
Prior to 1900 two elections to revise the Constitution had been 
held, and in both elections a revision was defeated. In 1900 the 
Democrats called a convention to revise the Constitution for the 
reasons above stated. The Republicans again opposed it. The 
chairman of the party urged; “Let every voter get to the polls 
on the 24th of May, 1900, and snow the attempted outrage under.” 
The pressing need for some constitutional provision to eliminate 
the negro vote without resort to trickery or fraud is shown by 
the fact that out of the one hundred counties in the state, in 1900 
there were ten counties with over 62^2% of negro population, 
and twenty-two counties with over 50% of negro population. 

The Democrats carried the election by a majority of 16,987. 
As a result the Constitutional Convention was called, and met in 
Richmond on June 12, 1901. It coiltained one hundred mem¬ 
bers, 88 Democrats and 12 Republicans, and most of them were 
men of great ability. 

Under this Constitution any one of the four following classes 
could register during the years ipo2 and ipo^: 

(i) A person who had served in the army or navy of the 
United States or of the Confederate States; or (2) a son of such 
person; or (3) a person who owns property upon which for the 


20 





year preceding that in which he offers to vote state taxes aggre¬ 
gating $1.00 have been paid; or (4) a person able to read any sec¬ 
tion of the Constitution and give a reasonable explanation thereof, 
or if unable to read such section, to understand and give explana¬ 
tion thereof when read. 

But after January i, 1^04, any person can register to vote 
(i) who has paid his poll taxes for three years next preceding 
that in which he offers to register, and (2) who makes appli¬ 
cation in his own handwriting, stating name, age, date and place 
of birth, residence, occupation, &c. 

These provisions removed the negro from politics in a large 
measure. 

Only two of the 12 Republicans in the Convention were will¬ 
ing to sign the Constitution. And by way of parenthesis we 
may add that although Col. Anderson attacked this Constitutional 
provision in his recent campaign, yet in 1908, when presenting 
President Taft to a Richmond audience, he said it was— 

“the last step in the work of forty years, which has placed 
the institutions of this state upon a sound basis, has assured 
the supremacy of intelligence in our government, and has 
opened to the people of all races and all classes an oppor¬ 
tunity to reap and enjoy the rewards of good citizenship.” 

Since Virginia has come under the administration of the 
white Democrats, our elections have, with few exceptions, been 
clean and fair. 

To point out the blessings of peace and prosperity that have 
come to Virginia under its Democratic administration would be 
a work of supererogation, for they were arrayed by Mr. Trinkle, 
the Democratic candidate for Governor, in his speech at Clint- 
wood on September 27th in a masterly manner. It is difficult, 
however, to refrain from using a few of his facts for the benefit 
of those who did not read his speech. For instance: Virginia’s 
income has increased from $3,339,242 to $21,500,000. 

Her expenditures for educational institutions have increased 
from $212,291 to $1,495^369- 


21 






Expenditures for public free schools have increased from 
$876,198 to $4,550,172. 

Expenditures for Confederate veterans have increased from 
$59,000 to $830,000. 

Expenditures for roads in 1921 will be $6,195,107, exclusive 
of Federal aid. 

Total value of school property in 1910 was $8,500,000; in 
1920 it was $23,102,000. 

Total number of public school teachers in 1900 was negli¬ 
gible; in 1910 it was 3,200; in 1920 it was 6,400. 

Number of high schools standardized in 1910 was 102, in 
1920 it was 258. 

Number of illiterates in 1910 was 55,815, in 1920 it was 
28,916. 

Percentage of total school population classed as illiterate in 
1910 was 11.2^, in 1920 it was 4.4%. 

Average value of farm lands per acre under 1910 census was 
$20.24, under the 1920 census it was $40.75. 

Total value of all crops in 1910 was $89,775,045, in 1920 it 
was $292,842,212. 

Taxes collected from steam railroads and canals in 1902 was 
$259,725, in 1920 it was $2,729,588. 

The above are only a few of the many enormous advantages 
which have come to Virginia under her white Democratic gov¬ 
ernment. 

It is hoped the preceding pages disclose the fact that we are 
not “again faced with problems such as induced our grandfathers 
to espouse the Whig party.” What we are faced with is a con¬ 
dition created by the Republican party, as is hereinbefore set out, 
and until that condition is removed by the party that made it, it 
cannot be trusted with the reins of government in this state. It 
is idle for the Republican party to say that its history in Virginia 
is a “skeleton.” Only last year a white man was defeated for 
the Legislature of West Virginia by a negro who was a clerk in 
the State House. The defeated man is a native of Fauquier 
County, Virginia, is a cultured gentleman who graduated as first 
honor man in his college about twenty years ago, is one of the 


22 




prominent members of the West Virginia bar, and would be an 
ornament to any legislative body. 

The conditions of to-day are not like the conditions in the 
days of Henry Clay, but they are closely similar to those existing 
in 1879, when an ambitious man collected the disaffected about 
him and seized the reins of government with the aid of the negro 
vote. But the Republicans reply, there is no negro vote with us, 
we would not even admit them to our Convention, we are the 
^‘Lily White’' party, and the negroes have their own candidate. 
Bosh! Doesn’t any one who knows the negro know he is going 
to follow white leaders? And does any one expect him not to 
vote for the white leaders of the party that gave him freedom 
and the ballot? There are in Virginia 135,756 negro men and 
102,619 negro women assessed with the poll tax for the year 1921. 
How many of these have qualified to vote it is impossible to 
determine at the time this is written, but in the recent election, 
Mitchell, the negro candidate for Governor, received only 5,230 
votes. And doesn’t every one know that this large negro vote, 
if qualified, will exercise the balance of power if the white Demo¬ 
crats do not hold together ? And when once their party gets into 
power the sad days of the past will be repeated. And their plat¬ 
form pledged them to electoral reforms which, if carried out, 
would automatically restore the negro to power in many counties. 

The writer holds no brief for Mr. Trinkle. He did not vote 
for him in the primary election, though he did in the general 
election, and believes he will make a fearless and efficient Gov¬ 
ernor. But he does hold a brief for Virginia, and he believes 
that a restoration of the Republican party to power will again 
stir up racial friction and retard Virginia’s development; that 
the time has not come to entrust the Republican party with the 
government of Virginia, and will not come until the negro is 
utterly out of politics in the state. 

Undoubtedly men and measures have appeared at times in 
the Democratic party which many of its adherents did not ap¬ 
prove—and the writer has been of this number—but the way to 
remedy these evils is within the party, and not by going over to 
the party that inflicted untold woes upon our people. 


23 






IV. A Suggestion to the Republican Party, 


State and National 



O the writer it has always seemed an axiom of govern- 


1 ment that the strength of a Republic lies in an enlightened 
and independent electorate, and that the position in which 
the Southern States have been placed for the last half century is 
the saddest chapter in political history in a thousand years with 
which he is familiar. Here we have a great body of clean- 
blooded Anglo-Saxon people ready to give of their strength and 
intellect to the common welfare of a common country after a 
fratricidal strife is ended, ready to take and make issues along 
lines of natural political cleavage, and yet fearful to do so be¬ 
cause of the menace of an inferior race just out of slavery, igno¬ 
rant, unmoral, and that can be massed against them at any time 
by clever political intriguers. How long must this condition last ? 
How long must the breed that gave Washington, Jefferson, Mar¬ 
shall, Madison, Monroe, Henry, Clay, Lee—a group that Hon. 
Albert J. Beveridge says was never before seen in any age in 
any land—how long must this breed be forbidden to contribute its 
mental strength to the Nation’s Councils? Is it fair to our com¬ 
mon country that this condition should exist? Is it fair that the 
burden of government should rest upon a part only of the country 
and not upon all of it? Have not the southern states come back 
into the Union with all the loyalty of true men, and in spite of 
the misuse to which they were subjected as conquered states by 
radical statesmen, have they not shown the highest order of 
fealty in time of peril and given of their best blood—aye, freely 
and gladly ? Has not the time come when the terrible wrong can 
be righted, and when the governments of the southern states can 
be returned to their white people? And would not such a step 
be best for the negroes as well as for the whites? The negroes 
have no place in politics; they can not cope with white men; they 
have nothing to give to government in character, ideals, or men¬ 
tality. Then why keep them in politics, when the only result of 
such a course is fruitful of discord? Charles Dudley Warner 
said in 1900 that “no permanent righteous adjustment of rela- 


24 




tions” could come until the negro would cease to be tempted with 
office for which he was in no sense fitted, and until he was no 
longer made a “pawn in the game of politics.” The Republican 
party in Virginia in the present state campaign has admitted the 
negro has no place in politics, by refusing to allow him to par¬ 
ticipate in its Convention, and by proclaiming in their platform 
that they are a white man’s party. The Democrats have always 
refused to admit him. As a result he is a political outcast; yet 
the southern whites are still afraid to divide, and the northern 
whites are longing to see the solid Democratic south broken up. 
Is this a healthy or normal condition? 

This condition was lamented by President Harding in his 
Birmingham speech on October 26, 1921. No one can read this 
speech without being impressed with the President’s patriotic 
motives; but no one familiar with conditions in the south and its 
political history can fail to see that he does not understand the 
true causes of the Democratic solidarity of the south. Said the 
President: 

'‘Politically and economically there need be no occasion 
for great and permanent differentiation, for limitation of the 
individual’s opportunity, provided on both sides there shall 
be recognition of the absolute divergence in things social 
and racialP (Italics ours.) 

And he then says there can be no such thing as social equal¬ 
ity, because of a “fundamental, eternal and inescapable differ¬ 
enced 

In the above quoted language the President is feeling for 
the truth, but he presupposes that both races will recognize 
“absolute divergence in things social and racial,” and therein he 
shows a lack of knowledge of the negro character. His proviso 
renders impossible of attainment his laudable desire of breaking 
the solid Democratic South, for it is impossible to expect the 
negro to recognize his “fundamental, eternal and inescapable 
difference” to the white man. 

Proceeding, he says: “Take first the political aspect. I 
would say let the black man vote when he is fit to vote; prohibit 
the white man voting when he is unfit to vote.” (Italics ours.) 
i 25 





But ours is a government of the white race, founded upon 
Magna Charta and the common law, and fashioned for our breed 
! and ours alone. We cannot be expected to submit to trial by 
I negro judges or juries, or be ruled or governed in any particular 
by any man except our peers —and black men are not our peers. 

! Therefore, the black man should not vote, and thereby be enabled 
j to become a deciding factor in the political institutions of the 
' southern states. 

It is thus seen that the President entertains a view toward 
the negro in politics different from that held by the Republican 
party in Virginia: the one would let him vote “when he is fit 
to vote/’ the other refuses even to admit him to its councils. 

How should this condition be remedied? Repeal by con¬ 
stitutional amendment section i of the 15th Amendment, and 
allow each state to determine the suffrage qualification. Give the 
negro every protection under the law that every other man 
enjoys—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—except the 
ballot. 

Indians are not allowed to vote. The Filipinos, far in advance 
of the negro in social and intellectual development, are not al¬ 
lowed to govern their own country. Then why should the 
negroes be placed in a position where, by virtue of their majority, 
they can govern large sections of the southern states unless 
their vote is taken from them by force, fraud or intimidation? 
When the error of negro suffrage is removed—and it is now 
admitted to be an error by all thinking men—the solid Demo¬ 
cratic south will pass away as a mist before the wind, her best 
minds will be devoted to public affairs, and the councils of the 
nation will be enriched and strengthened by a force now unknown, 
for few of our first men are attracted into politics under present 
conditions. 

And is this suggestion a new thing in this country ? By no 
means. In 1865 there were only six northern states which per¬ 
mitted negroes to vote: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 
Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin, and in all of these states 
there were discriminations against them. Not until June 8, 1867, 
did negroes have the ballot in the District of Columbia, and then 

26 




Congress passed the bill over the President’s veto, and when it 
was submitted to the voters it was rejected by a vote of 6,521 to 
35 in Washington, and by a vote of 812 to i in Georgetown. But 
negro suffrage was introduced, and after four years’ trial was 
abandoned by Congress. Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts, 
opposed giving suffrage to the negro in 1866. In a speech on 
January 5th of that year he said: 

“I am not in favor of a surrender of the present rights 
of the Union to a struggle between a white minority, aided 
by the freedmen on the one hand, against a majority of the 
white race on the other.” 

In August, 1862, the State of Illinois amended her consti¬ 
tution by a majority of 100,590 making it a misdemeanor for a 
negro to enter the state with the intention of residing. 

And from whence can this change come? Only from some 
of the great statesmen of the north or west. It can not come 
from the south. We can only stand and wait; but while we wait 
we can pray— 

''God give us men; times like these demand 
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, ready hands: 

Men whom the lust of office does not kill. 

Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy. 

Men who possess opinions and a will. 

Men who have honor, men who will not lie. 

Men who can stand before the demagogue 

And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking. 

Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the mists 
In public duty and in private thinking. 

For while the rabble with their thumb-worn creeds. 

Their large professions and their little deeds. 

Inveigh in selfish strife, lo, freedom weeps. 

Wrong rules the land and waiting justice sleeps.” 

Hunsdon Cary. 

Richmond, Va., December i, 1921. 

27 






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